Sosa Hits 601, Rangers Beat Astros

6-22-07 - Sammy Sosa hit career home run No. 601, the first of three homers the Texas Rangers hit in an eight-run fifth inning outburst en route to a 11-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Kevin Millwood (4-6) won his second straight start after going seven games without a victory since April 13 with two stints on the disabled list.

Craig Biggio singled in the fifth inning for his 2,993rd career hit and Mike Lamb went 2-for-4 for Houston.

The Rangers sent 13 batters to the plate while matching their highest-scoring inning of the season. Sosa's two-run homer started the scoring in the fifth and a two-run single in his second at-bat of the frame capped it as Texas won its third straight game.

Sosa played for the first time since becoming the fifth member of the 600-homer club Wednesday night after getting a day off Thursday. He has 13 homers this season and 57 RBIs, tied for fifth in the American League.

Biggio scored on a fifth-inning double by rookie Hunter Pence, playing his first big league game in his hometown where he played for Arlington High and UT-Arlington. Pence's hit bounced against the left-center wall near a sign that read "Welcome Home Hunter."

Millwood allowed three runs and nine hits over six innings, struck out two and walked none.

Michael Young led off the Texas fifth with a single before Sosa's homer inside the right-field pole. Marlon Byrd followed with a 449-foot drive, the third straight game the Rangers had back-to-back homers, to chase Woody Williams (3-10).

Reliever Stephen Randolph walked the first batter he faced and Brad Wilkerson snapped a 2-for-23 slump with a two-run homer, his eighth of the season. Young drew a bases-loaded walk before Sosa's sharp single to right.

Williams allowed five runs and seven hits in four-plus innings with four walks, including three straight batters in the third when Texas failed to score. Randolph gave up five runs and four hits with four walks in two innings.

The Rangers have won three of the first four games in the Lone Star Series that determines who gets the 2 1/2 -foot tall Silver Boot Trophy. Texas is 10-6 in interleague play this season, matching its most wins against NL teams in a season.

Lance Berkman, the only player who has appeared in all 40 Lone Star Series games, put the Astros up 1-0 with a solo homer in the first, his ninth of the season to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Berkman's RBI single in the fifth put the Astros up 3-2.

Lamb picked up his seventh multihit game during an eight-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .563 (18-for-32).

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